You may, from time to time see us refer to “creatives” on this blog. Enough people have asked us, “What are creatives?” that we have decided to launch a four-part series on what creatives are and how you can use them to help you build your business.

When we refer to a creative, we are talking about any advertising method by which you attempt to reach consumers. For example, the text in a PPC ad can be considered a creative, as could a Flash banner advertisement. Some creatives – mostly image creatives - are available directly from merchants, while others will be created by affiliates, or even a third party.

Essentially, anything that you do to market goods and services that requires imagination, artistry, innovation, and inspiration is a creative.  Everybody uses creatives in different ways, but they all fall into two basic categories: text and images.

In the first part of our series, we’ll look at text creatives and how they can help you reach your audience. We’ll talk about the importance of powerful PPC ads, and solid, relevant copywriting. We’ll also explore how SEO fits into the big picture, and how it can be used within your text creatives to reach your target audience.

In the next part, we’ll look at image creatives. We’ll explore what makes a successful image creative, where to place them on your website to get the best results, and some things to avoid.

And in the final part of the series, we’ll take a good, hard look at the value of monitoring your creatives and how tracking them can help improve your business. We’ll investigate how to use the Share Results software to help you get more information on what creatives are working for you, and how you can enhance your strategies in order to improve your conversion rates.

Come back tomorrow to read all about text creatives, and how to use them effectively. And be sure to get in on the conversation by leaving a comment or by sending us an email to let us know if you have any further questions.